


First Dawn

by piecesof_reeses



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Adora/Catra Childhood Flashbacks, Bastardized Holiday Traditions, F/F, First Kiss, Gen, Hyper-Competitive Perfuma, Seahawk Setting Things On Fire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-09-23 06:04:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 20,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17074775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/piecesof_reeses/pseuds/piecesof_reeses
Summary: Unsurprisingly, they didn't have holidays back in the Fright Zone. Adora is busy celebrating her first holiday, but for some reason, thoughts of Catra are never far from her mind.//Adora learns the true meaning of First Dawn, races some reindeer, and has at least one kiss under conveniently placed mistletoe.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Canon-compliant to the best of my abilities! Though I did have fun adapting our Earth holidays to what might be their Etheria equivalents ;) 
> 
> First Dawn = Christmas.

"What's a holo-day?" Adora sounded the word out slowly, her brow furrowing.

Whatever it was, it was clearly important. Bow and Glimmer had woken her up at the crack of dawn with loud banging and crinkling and, in Glimmer's case, bossy commands of steadily increasing volume. But finally both of them stopped their scurrying around and turned to look at her, in creepy unison. A second before they opened their mouths, Adora knew what they were going to say.

"Oh for Hordak's sake--" she started, but was immediately drowned out by,

"You don't know what a HOLIDAY is?" They blinked large, liquid eyes at her, as though she had dealt them some fatal blow with her sword, or maybe gobbled up all of Madame Razz's best gooseberries without saving any for them.

"It was an honest question," Adora said, annoyed. "I did grow up in a enemy fortress with dozens of other child soldiers and an egomaniacal dark sorceress as my mother figure."

"Not even St. Iniara's Day?" Bow asked.

"No."

"Or Shadow's Eve?" asked Glimmer.

"No."

"Or Etheria Day?" asked Bow.

"No."

"Or--"

"NO!" Adora glared at them without blinking, making a swift jabbing feint with her hand when Glimmer attempted to finish her question. Glimmer shut up, prudently. "Just tell me what it is! Is a holo-day some kind of--of holographic projection?"

"Well, it's..." Bow rubbed the back of his head. "It's kind of hard to explain."

"It's a day where you celebrate something!" Glimmer said.

"Celebrate what?" Adora asked.

"It depends on what holiday it is. On Shadow's Eve, we celebrate courage and dignity in the face of fear by pulling scary pranks on each other! One time I made Mom almost faint when I teleported into her bedchamber, right behind her as she was looking into her mirror. I was wearing a Horde soldier costume I borrowed from the village--they use it to do public service announcements and evacuation drills."

"Right..." Adora said. "So what you're telling me is that these holo-days are ways people thought of to waste their time."

"It's not a waste, Adora," Bow said. "Holidays are fun! And this is the best holiday of the year!"

"First Dawn," Glimmer said, nodding. "The first rays of sunlight after the longest night of the year. It's awesome, AND we get to stay up all night waiting for it."

"And hang mistletoe, and drink spiced orchid's milk, and cuddle around the fireplace," Bow added.

"It's lots of fun," Glimmer said. "You'll see! We've only got a few days until First Dawn, so we've got a lot to do to get the castle ready."

"Actually," Adora said, "Now that I think about it, I think we kind of had something similar at the Evil Horde."

"Really?" Bow and Glimmer asked in excited unison.

"Yeah...Every so often we had days where we didn't do any drills. Instead, we went to Lord Hordak's throne room and serenaded him with odes to his power and majesty. Lord Hordak zapped any of us who got too far off-key!" Adora said, giggling a little bit at the memory. "Catra can't sing, she only yowls like she got her tail stuck under the door, and she always got zapped twice as often as any of us. I guess it was pretty fun..."

Bow and Glimmer were silent for a long moment, looking at her. Adora got the feeling that she had said something a little off again, like when she mentioned the Horde tied lit fuses to cadets who weren't running through drills fast enough. Honestly, a little fire was always a good motivating factor. Etheria and the Princess Alliance were on the side of light and justice and all, but sometimes Adora secretly felt like if Princess She-Ra were being trained by the Horde, she would already have mastered all her powers by now. If there was one thing the Horde knew, it was efficiency. And fear and brainwashing and getting bloodstains out of uniforms, of course, but efficiency was really what Adora missed most of all.

"Anyway, what can I do to help?" Adora said weakly.

Glimmer cheered and wrapped one arm around her as Bow picked the large box of supplies back up. "We begin by tinsel-ing the entire perimeter of the castle..."

 

*     *      *

 

Several hours later, Adora slumped onto the floor, exhausted. Glimmer had long since retreated to recharge; her teleportation powers had been drained steadily away by the comprehensive application of tinsel to every nook, cranny, and alcove of the castle. Several times, their work had disturbed small creatures with large ears and small beady eyes, who chirped at them angrily before scurrying away deeper into the shadows. Adora sympathized--she knew what it was like to have to uproot your whole life at the whim of larger forces beyond your control.

Even with liberal use of Glimmer's teleportation, wrapping tinsel around the entire castle had taken the better part of an entire day. And at the end, when Glimmer was too exhausted to use her powers, Bow had resorted to shooting arrows to catapult the tinsel onto the highest spire of the castle.

Only once did Adora attempt to suggest, very tentatively, if they could perhaps stop and call it a day. Not to imply that there was anything wrong with tinsel-ing every square inch of the castle, of course. Tinsel was just very shiny, and with the giant Moon Stone glowing at all hours, the reflections of light were rather...dazzling. Like a million shards of condensed sunlight attempting to pierce their way into your skull from every possible direction, someone might say. Not Adora, of course, but...someone.

The resulting volume and indignation of Bow and Glimmers' responses had been very effective at silencing her.

"Hey, Adora?"

Adora turned and fastened her eyes onto Bow's face with great relief. Bow was very solid and not shiny and visually restful.

"Growing up in--in the Horde, did you guys ever have any traditions?" Bow asked. "I know you didn't really have holidays, but did you ever do anything to mark special events?"

Adora thought it over. Shadow Weaver had liked to mark the years by taking regular measurements of Adora's physical growth, strength, and reflexes, her hands tight on Adora's shoulders as Adora went through the tests, eyes watching avidly through the mask. Sometimes, when she thought Adora wasn't growing fast enough, she would fasten Adora to the wall with her black spiderish tendrils and then pull, slowly, stretching Adora out from head to toe until Adora screamed, and screamed, and screamed.

But that probably wasn't what Bow meant. "Well," Adora began hesitantly, "when we become cadets, there's a big ceremony. You stand on a tall platform and salute the rest of the Horde while Shadow Weaver reads out your name and stats. And then you have to shout, long live the Lord! And the whole Horde shouts it back. It's pretty cool, the echoes reverberated all throughout the Fright Zone."

"Huh. That sounds...terrifying."

Adora nodded. That was a fair assessment.

"What about with friends, though?" Bow asked. "Did you have any traditions that didn't involve Hordak or Shadow Weaver?"

"No," Adora said. Then stopped. "I guess that's not quite true. When we were little, we would cuddle up together during the coldest day of winter. We'd get under the covers and stay up all night, telling stories."

"You and the other cadets?"

"No. It was just...me and Catra. Everyone else always wanted to sleep. But Catra would come down to my bunk and make me brush out her tail. She could never get her blanket to cover all of it during the night, and when it got really cold, her fur formed little ice crystals. When they melted, her fur would get all matted and tangled and she hated it. She could have just done it herself, of course. Catra was the laziest person I ever knew." Adora rolled her eyes in belated exasperation. "But I would brush it for her instead, gently so she wouldn't scratch me."

Bow looked a little taken aback, but Adora couldn't think of what she had said to offend him. This memory, at least, had nothing to do with violence or Lord Hordak.

But Bow only asked, "What stories did you tell each other?"

Adora shrugged. "It was all just nonsense. Stuff like what we would do when we grew up and became Force Captains. How strong we would be, how much butt we would kick together." Adora added, quietly, "How no one would be able to give us any crap anymore, or hurt us or make us do anything we didn't want to do. And then we would be the first co-captains ever in the Horde and beat everybody else and win a bunch of awards together." Adora laughed a little bit, but it was muted. "I haven't thought about this stuff in a long time," she admitted. "Catra and I stopped doing this several years ago. I guess we grew out of it. And she learned to keep her tail curled up under the covers."

Bow was staring at her, expression still confused and a little bit uncomfortable.

"What?" Adora barked. "It's not that weird. We were kids, and the Horde was all we knew."

"I know, I know!" Bow said immediately, putting his hands up. "I just didn't realize you were, you know, so close to Catra. That you were really...really..." Bow couldn't seem to find the words to finish his sentence.

"Really friends?" Adora asked pointedly.

Bow shrugged, apologetic. "Well, yeah. Everything you've said about the Horde has sounded like a really terrible place for somebody to grow up. I guess I just thought you were never very happy there."

Adora sighed. "I had friends, Bow. I had a _best_ friend. And even though what the Horde is doing is wrong, has been wrong this whole time, we were only in training. We didn't know any better--all the information we got came straight from Shadow Weaver or Lord Hordak. We were taught to fear the Rebellion and to love the Evil Horde. It was my home. It was the only family I had for a really long time."

Bow scooched over closer to her and nudged her shoulder lightly with his own. "You've got some more family now. I know Glimmer and I can be annoying, and we're definitely ignorant about the Horde and ask stupid questions. But you're one of ours now, and we've got your back."

Adora smiled at him, but her chest was aching with a dull, deep pain. Her ribcage felt tight with some kind of weight, like Shadow Weaver had a black tentacle wrapped around her torso. Inexplicably, she could taste tears at the back of her throat, even though Bow was being completely sincere and supportive.

"Thanks, Bow," Adora managed to say. "You're a good friend." She turned away and stared hard at the 360-degree tinsel view in front of her, until sunspots danced over her vision and her head ached.

 

*     *     *

 

The next day dawned bright and clear, blue skies stretching out as far as the eye could see. Adora loved this kind of weather, where Swift Wind could catch any wind that happened to blow by and just glide, forever, sunlight at their backs and no obstructions until the horizon. Every so often, when Bow might be busy with his family and Glimmer off training with Queen Angella, and the day was as beautiful as it was today, Adora would seize a few hours of flying. Swift Wind was a lot less aggressively gregarious when it was only the two of them. And it was peaceful, almost extravagantly so, in comparison to the cramped barracks of the Evil Horde and even the warm camaraderie of the Rebellion. Adora felt like she could clear her mind, finally, of all the regrets and anxieties and longings that usually swirled around her head.

She eyed the sky through the floor-length window, speculative. It really was a perfect day, a perfect day for--

"Flying!" Glimmer came crashing into Adora's room, Bow at her heels.

Adora blinked. "Wow, you really read my mind. How did you know--"

"The reindeer are all harnessed and raring to go! We've got a really good group this year, I think we could actually have a chance at winning! We just need someone to captain the sleigh."

"R-reindeer?" Adora mumbled, wondering if she was still dreaming.

"She's talking about the All-Kingdoms Annual Reindeer Race," Bow explained helpfully. "It's one of the best traditions of First Dawn. All the kingdoms compete in reindeer-drawn sleighs, and the first sleigh to cross the finish line wins!"

"Wins what?" Adora asked.

"The most important prize of all!" Glimmer said, a fervent gleam in her eye. Adora leaned closer despite herself. "BRAGGING RIGHTS!"

"...Of course," Adora said.

"Perfuma still hasn't shut up about winning last year, and it's been 12 months."

"It's true," Bow said. "That's at least fifty percent of what she talked about at Princess Prom."

"So the princesses each compete to represent their kingdoms?" Adora asked.

"Usually..." Bow said. "But Glimmer is, ahem, disqualified for the foreseeable future. So we need a princess to represent Bright Moon."

"You accidentally teleport _once_ and everyone freaks out," Glimmer muttered angrily. "I just got over-excited! I was only thirteen! It was my first Reindeer Race, and I was still learning how to control my powers."

"Luckily!" Bow said over Glimmer's angry monologue, "We now have another princess who can represent Bright Moon!"

"Oh, really?" Adora asked interestedly. "Who?"

Bow and Glimmer both turn to look at her, eyebrows raised. Adora looks back at them for several long seconds.

"Me? But I don't even know what reindeer are! And I've never been in a race, unless you count running away from Shadow Weaver after accidentally-on-purpose setting her robe on fire, and that was really, I mean, that was really an extenuating circumstance and completely Catra's fault." Adora backed away from them slowly, but her friends kept pace.

"That's totally fine. We don't really need you to drive the sleigh. Bow will do that! He's been filling in for me for the past few years, anyway, so he knows what he's doing."

"We need you for the _other_ parts of the race." Bow grinned, but it was a different smile than Adora was used to seeing from him. Less good-natured, and more maliciously gleeful.

"While Bow focuses on directing the reindeer and keeping the sleigh on track, you'll be countering the attacks!" Glimmer gestured with her hands, making strange jabbing and feinting motions. Adora watched her, perplexed. Is that what she looked like when she wielded the sword? Maybe she needed to practice in front of a mirror sometime to make sure she looked less like an amateur butcher with a feisty chicken and more like a graceful defender of Etheria.

"The Reindeer Race isn't just about speed," Bow continued. "It's also about magic. The entire course is located in Frosta's kingdom--"

"--which you'd think would be an advantage, but that kid hasn't won a single time--" Glimmer put in.

"--because that's the reindeers' natural habitat. We start off on land and run several leagues over icy, mountainous terrain. During this portion, no one is allowed to use magic. We focus solely on the reindeer and the obstacles. But after we take off from the Precipice of No Return, the reindeer start flying, and the real action starts!"

"Any and all magic is fair game, as long as it doesn't affect the reindeers' natural speed or wind conditions. You'll need to protect the sleigh from attacks while simultaneously doing your best to throw other princesses off the course," Glimmer said, talking faster and faster in her excitement. "Frosta loves to use ice spears, which can take you down if they hit the sleigh at the right angle, while Mermista has traditionally been constrained by the lack of standing water when you're, you know, flying. And Perfuma, of course, can conjure plants even if she's a hundred feet in the air, and she loves to use vines to trip the reindeer up, which honestly should be counted as a violation of the rules."

Bow was nodding, looking ill-tempered. "Tripping up the reindeer is just bad sportsmanship. It's a cheap tactic. Perfuma should be above stuff like that."

"Sure. Interfering with the reindeer is bad, but shooting lasers at people is good," Adora hazarded.

"Exactly! You'll be awesome!" Glimmer put her arm around Adora's shoulders squeezed encouragingly. "Let's go get you familiarized with the reindeer and the sleigh. Luckily, the race isn't until tomorrow afternoon, so we've got some time to train you up."

And with that, Glimmer put her other arm around Bow and teleported them all to the training fields that lay behind the palace.

"I don't suppose we have time for breakfast?" Adora asked, without much hope.

"You can eat when you've won," Glimmer said sternly. Behind her, Bow mouthed, _she doesn't mean it._

Adora sighed and trudged forward. Her feet sank into the cool, dew-tipped grass, leaving a trail of disturbed greenery. Ahead of her, she could see the stables where Swift Wind typically slept, and she perked up a bit in spite of herself. It was always nice to see her horsie. In fact, she thought she could even hear his voice now.

As they drew nearer to the stables, Swift Wind grew louder and louder in volume, the timbre of his voice unmistakeable. Adora pushed open the door and walked in with Bow and Glimmer following close behind. Swift Wind still hadn't noticed their presence.

"--We can cast off these chains of servitude if we only bind together, all quadrupeds mobilizing as one towards liberation! We are all creatures of flight, are we not, yet we stay tethered to the earth in service of man! We were meant for greater things, my horned cousins. We can escape this life of ignominious mediocrity and mean serfdom and build our own vast civilization, where our only limit is the edge of the horizon! Stomp your hooves with me if you hear my call in your hearts!" With a mighty neigh, Swift Wind reared up and brought his hooves crashing down into the hay.

Across from Swift Wind, there were four large, shaggy beasts with strange sticks protruding from their foreheads. None of them were paying much attention to anything other than the hay in front of them, which they were munching with great enthusiasm. One of the beasts shuffled its hind legs, tail whipping away a fly.

"Yes! One of you stands with me!" Swift Wind called, triumphant.

"Uh, Swift Wind--" Bow started, but then stopped, looking awkward.

"Horsie, I'm not sure they can understand you," Adora said, patting Swift Wind's soft neck in what she hoped was a comforting sort of manner. "I mean, you're the only one I zapped with my sword, and I don't think animals are capable of understanding complex thought without some magical catalyst."

"And even if they did," Glimmer said, hands on her hips, "You shouldn't be trying to incite mutiny! The reindeer only need to work one day a year, and that day has come. You can go back to your rabble-rousing _after_ Bright Moon has won the All-Kingdom Reindeer Race."

"If you really want to win, you should switch me in for any one of those slow beasts!" Swift Wind pivoted quickly away from trying to curry favor with his so-called cousins. "Come on, Adora, you know I could out-fly anybody without breaking a sweat."

Adora glanced at Bow, but he was already shaking his head. "That would definitely be automatic disqualification. A few years ago Perfuma tied some twigs onto a griffin, and it did not go over well. You know, Perfuma is surprisingly competitive for someone so nice."

"Sorry," Adora shrugged. "I know you're faster than any of the reindeer, but it's out of my hands."

"Hmph." Swift Wind tossed his rainbow mane disdainfully. "Do you at least have an apple for me?"

"I didn't even have time for my own breakfast!" Adora protested.

"I told you, that's because breakfast is for winners!" Glimmer said. "We have a lot to do if we want to have even a chance of winning glory, and digestion will just slow you down."

The next few minutes were a blur. The reindeer were brushed down, led out of the stables, and clipped to a gleaming white sleigh that Adora could have sworn wasn't there a moment ago. In the cold, the reindeer seemed to stand up straighter and lose some of their lethargy. Their antlers arced up toward the sky proudly, and they huffed white puffs of air from their velvety muzzles. Bow had covered each of them with a thick woolen coat that draped over their sides in a pale blue-lavender. Adora had to admit that they made a striking picture against the smooth curves of the sleigh, tipped in silver accents and adorned with carved designs.

Bow was hovering by the reindeer, giving each individual attention and murmuring something while staring deeply into their eyes.

"Wait, can they actually understand human speech?" Adora asked.

"No, that's just Bow being Bow," Glimmer said, rolling her eyes. "He thinks motivational speeches are important even if the audience has no idea what's happening. He's even named the reindeer--Arthur, Bertha, Chris, and Daffodil."

"Daff--" Adora started to ask.

"Used to be Dennis, but we re-named the dummy after last year, when Perfuma hit him with a crown of daffodils and he literally stopped in mid-air to eat them. You'll need to watch out for this year--make sure the plants stay far, far away."

"Got it." Now that she was looking at him more closely, Daffodil did look a little chunkier than the rest. Even as she studied him, he bent his large head to the ground and began pulling up blades of grass with single-minded intensity.

Bow had finished his monologuing and was now jogging back over to them, beaming. "They're in great shape this morning! What do you say, Adora, let's take them out for a test drive!"

They climbed into the sleigh, which was narrow and aerodynamic, containing only one seat in front and one seat in the rear. Bow directed Adora to sit in the back, while he slid into the driver's seat and fastened a complicated-looking set of belts around his torso, waist, and upper thighs.

"For safety," Bow explained. "The ride can get a little bumpy and unpredictable, so it's a good idea to be tied down in multiple places."

Adora stared down at her own seat, which was conspicuously empty of any safety harnessing. The sides of the sleigh barely came up to her elbows when she sat down. As She-Ra, she would almost be toppling out of the sleigh.

"Oh, don't worry, you're better off without this get-up in your role," Bow said. "You'll need your mobility to shield against attacks and fire off attacks of your own. You can't do that while sitting down and facing forward!"

"Easy for you to say," Adora muttered. Of all the things she had managed to transform the sword into, one thing she had not yet attempted was a parachute.

"C'mon, get moving!" Glimmer yelled. "Adora needs to get a feel for the sleigh."

Bow leaned forward and made some sort of strange yipping noise to the reindeer. They swiveled their ears back and then, without any other warning, shot straight off into the field. Their hooves pounded against the pasture as they put their heads down and antlers forward, powerful bodies straining with the effort. Bow let out a whoop of delight and Glimmer laughed out loud somewhere behind them, shouting, "Now that's more like it!"

Meanwhile, Adora was clinging white-knuckled to the sides of the sleigh. Her eyes watered against the force of the blistering wind, and her teeth rattled as the sleigh banged against what felt like every single stone in the field. The sprint stretched on, interminably, as Adora did her best to stay in the sleigh and keep her composure. The sleigh might look aerodynamic, but there was absolutely no undercarriage cushioning against the rough terrain.

Finally, Bow whistled sharply and the reindeer slowed to a halt.

"Wasn't that amazing?" Bow asked.

"Yup," Adora said between clenched teeth, and clambered out of the sleigh awkwardly. She still felt faintly like the ground was shaking underneath her. "How do you, um, deal with the jostling?"

Bow frowned. "It helps if you lean forward and brace yourself a little bit. It's just something you have to get used to--when we're actually competing, the adrenaline rush will carry you through it. To be honest, it'll be a lot bumpier on the actual course, without the grass to cushion us."

"Great," Adora said. "This seems like a totally worthwhile endeavor that is not a waste of time. What did you say the prize was again? Bragging rights?"

Glimmer teleported to their side and leaned companionably against Adora's side. "The first time's always the hardest," she said. "You'll get the hang of it in no time! Ready to try a run as She-Ra?"

Adora got to her feet shakily and drew out her sword. The sword's magic seemed to sense that she wasn't wholeheartedly committed to this course of action, and it took several increasingly annoyed repetitions of "For the honor of Greyskull!" until she finally managed to transform. Adora stared down at the sleigh, which suddenly looked like it had shrunk by an order of magnitude.

"Here goes nothing," she said without enthusiasm, and climbed back into the sleigh.

"This time, we'll practice swerving to avoid obstacles," Bow said cheerily, and then they were off again.

If anything, Adora felt like she was feeling every bump even more with her increased mass. She grit her teeth and leaned forward, trying to brace and keep herself steady despite the unpredictable rocking of the sleigh.

"Try to stand up!" Bow called to her. "You'll need to have a full range of motion when we're in the air, so you should get used to compensating for the sleigh's movements."

Adora pushed herself up, fingers slippery against the cold metal of the sleigh. The wind whipped her hair into her face, and she spit out some strands that had flown into her mouth. She had pulled herself into a half-standing, half-crouching position, when Bow whistled again, this time a fluting trill that ran up and down an octave. Wondering what Bow was up to, Adora jerked her head back up, but She-Ra's voluminous hair flew into her face again, completely obstructing her vision. Muttering under her breath, Adora let go with one hand and began to sweep the hair back, but the sleigh suddenly shuddered underneath her, and then it began to tilt crazily upward.

Adora shrieked and grabbed for the side of the sleigh again, but she still couldn't see past the golden curtain of hair, and her hand closed around nothing but air. The entire front part of the sleigh had come up off the ground, and Adora could feel herself sliding unexorably backwards, head first. She was still clinging desperately to one side of the sleigh with the other hand, but even as she tried to consolidate her grip, her fingers, clammy with nervous sweat, slipped off.

"Oh Lord Hordak," Adora said, and squeezed her eyes shut. This was going to hurt.

 

*     *     *

 

The first thing Adora heard was the shouting. She winced away, the shrill voices exacerbating her already pounding headache. For a moment, she thought she might be back in the Fright Zone. But she was lying down somewhere soft, much softer than any bed she'd had with the Horde, and Adora could smell the soft fragrance of fresh flowers.

Slowly, she blinked open her eyes. The sunlight hurt her over-sensitive eyes, and she let out a soft grunt and squinted across the room to where Glimmer, Bow, and Queen Angella were standing. Glimmer was the first to notice she had woken up, and she immediately teleported to Adora's bedside.

"I'm sorry, Glimmer," Adora burst out before she had a chance to say anything. "I know I totally messed that up, but I can do better. I'll try harder. I'll definitely be ready for the race--I know how much you want to win. I'm just kind of out of shape; I haven't been training as much here in Bright Moon as I did back in the Horde, and the lack of daily death-defying simulations has really done a number on my reflexes."

"No, Adora!" Glimmer yelled. Adora flinched back involuntarily and Glimmer immediately took a step back, looking almost tearful. "Sorry," she continued in a quieter voice, "but this is all my fault. I know I can be so over-competitive, and I was forcing you into something you weren't ready for, without giving you any support. I should have been a better coach. I should have been a better _friend._ "

Bow had come up behind her, and he was nodding seriously. "We could tell you weren't comfortable with how fast we were going, but neither of us stopped to even ask if you were okay. And now you're hurt! If you hadn't been transformed into She-Ra, you could have been seriously injured. We'd love to win the Reindeer Race, but it's not worth risking your life."

"But--but I should have been able to do it," Adora said, staring hard at the blanket covering her. "I'm She-Ra! She-Ra would have been able to conquer something like reindeer-racing in no time. It's because I haven't been working hard enough. I've been slacking off instead of training, even though I know my first duty is to master She-Ra's powers."

Queen Angella rested her hand on Adora's shoulder, and Adora looked up at her, surprised. The queen looked weary. "You have nothing to apologize for, Adora. She-Ra is such a towering figure in our mythology, and when you appeared, we took you and your incredible powers for granted. But you are not invincible, and we would not ask you to be. You may have the sword of She-Ra, but it will take you time to master it, and that's okay. We--" she leveled a hard look at Glimmer and Bow "--must be patient with you, and you must be patient with yourself."

Adora stared back at Queen Angella wordlessly. Queen Angella sighed, and then said, "Let's get some food into you. I hear you haven't even had breakfast."

Glimmer and Bow volunteered to fetch some food from the kitchens, and filed out of the room, looking chastened. The queen walked slowly over to the large window and stood, gazing out over the Whispering Woods. Her tall, slim stature, silhouetted against the sunlight, reminded Adora uncomfortably of Shadow Weaver. Like Queen Angella, Shadow Weaver had also seemed weary, like she was carrying some heavier burden that was hers alone. How many times had Shadow Weaver screamed at her for not advancing in her lessons quickly enough? And those were the milder punishments, comparatively speaking. When Shadow Weaver had become truly infuriated, she would pin Adora to the wall with her shadow tentacles, eyes blazing through her mask and staring straight into Adora's soul. She rifled through Adora's mind like a trick deck of cards, shuffling through until she grasped the right memory, and used that weakness to plunge Adora into waking nightmares.

There had been something almost frantic in the way that Shadow Weaver prodded her along from one benchmark to another, as though she were racing against some deadline to make Adora first into a cadet, then one of the youngest Force captains in history. And when she spoke to Adora, she spun out grand narratives of untapped potential and an inevitable destiny. Adora had been raised for this, Shadow Weaver promised fervently, and there was no way she would allow her to fail.

Catra never got the same treatment, even though they had been fostered side-by-side for as far back as Adora could remember. Where Adora was singled out for punishment and reward alike, Catra lingered in the shadows, progressing at almost as fast a pace but somehow never capturing the same level of attention. Adora could recall days when she bandaged her wounds from another round of discipline with Shadow Weaver, and Catra sat there with her, regarding her with a curious light in her eyes. There was sympathy, of course, and relief that she had not been targeted, but there was something else too that Adora could never quite pin down. Now, Adora reflected that it looked almost like envy.

"Glimmer's father loved the Reindeer Races," Queen Angella said unprompted, breaking Adora out of her thoughts. She blinked owlishly at Queen Angella's sudden statement.

"Oh?" Adora asked awkwardly.

"He held the champion's title for five years running--longer than anyone else." Queen Angella turned back to smile at Adora. "He loved the reindeer, and the dueling in mid-air, and just the ridiculousness of it all. And Glimmer was his biggest fan. She helped him groom the reindeer and carry over pails of water and even spot-clean the sleigh. And during the races, she cheered like a child possessed. She always had a sore throat the next day when we sang First Dawn carols, of course, and I warned her every time, but she never listened. One year, she told me, in a whisper that I had to crouch down to understand, that it was worth it."

Adora had to smile at the image. Glimmer was one of the most headstrong people she knew, and she could easily picture a small, obstinate Glimmer hurling herself into reindeer racing with endless energy.

"She's only run the race once herself," Queen Angella continued. She reached her hand out to trace lightly along the draperies hanging from the wall. "When her father passed away, Glimmer was his obvious successor. She nearly trained herself into an early grave in the weeks leading up to the race. I think she would have won, too, even though she was the youngest competitor at the time. But...she wanted it too much. And when they were barely paces away from the finish line, her desire to honor her father's memory simply drowned out everything else. That was actually the first time that she managed to teleport anything besides herself. And somehow she transported herself, the sleigh, and each one of the reindeer safe and sound. Those sticklers have never let her compete since." Queen Angella scowled and rolled her eyes, looking all at once much more like her daughter than Adora had ever seen before.

"I understand," Adora said, looking solemnly at Queen Angella and trying to convey her earnestness through the power of her stare. "I didn't realize how close to Glimmer's heart this was. I will do everything in my power to win the race tomorrow."

Queen Angella laughed unexpectedly and walked back over to smooth Adora's hair away from her forehead. Adora held completely still, not even daring to breathe. Her fingers were cool and dry against Adora's face.

"You will absolutely not do that," Queen Angella said. "I only wanted to help explain why Glimmer was so...over-exuberant this morning. She was wrong to push you so, but her behavior is understandable. You know, the All-Kingdom Reindeer Race is supposed to be a time of joy and of coming together, not cutthroat competition. When the Horde first began striking at our borders, the All-Kingdom Reindeer Race was one of the first things to go."

"What do you mean?" Adora asked.

"It is hard to make time for holidays when the enemy is literally attempting to batter down your doors," the queen said wryly. "And the time leading up to First Dawn is particularly fraught, because those nights are the longest of the year. The Horde took advantage of the cover of darkness to advance farther than they ever had in the past. This was before we were organized enough to establish a rebellion force, and we were all in our own little corners of Etheria, trying desperately to secure our own kingdoms. But in so doing, we forgot the fundamental purpose of holidays."

The queen was clearly in a sharing mood, and watching her gently smile, Adora felt safe enough to say, "We never had holidays in the Fright Zone. When Bow and Glimmer explained them to me, I thought the purpose of holidays was to spend time doing frivolous things."

Instead of dismissing her remark in exasperation or disgust, Queen Angella only laughed again. "You're not too far off the mark, Adora. Holidays are the time to do frivolous things, things that you would never waste time doing otherwise. But holidays are also for unity, and friendship, and humanity. By going through pointless rituals together, we strengthen our bonds. The Horde's strategy is to target us one by one, to divide us so that they can more easily strike us down. But holidays are a way for us to take a break from waging this endless war and remember why we need each other."

Adora sat further up in bed, thinking. "I think I'm starting to understand. Like I said, in the Horde we didn't have any official holidays, but Ca--my friend and I would have little traditions that we did together. For no reason, really, but they would always make us feel better afterwards. Like we could push harder and train better and survive whatever Shadow Weaver threw at us."

"Exactly. Right now, we need those traditions more than ever." Queen Angella reached out and squeezed Adora's shoulder. "However you do in the Reindeer Race, we are still proud to have you with us in Bright Moon."

Adora had to fight, again, the pinpricks of tears in her eyes. "Thank you," she said. "Not just for saying that, but also for sharing all of that history with me. There's so much that I don't understand, but I'm trying."

The door opened to reveal Glimmer and Bow and a cart piled high with dishes. "Sorry that took so long," Glimmer said. "It's that awkward time between breakfast and lunch, so there wasn't any food already prepared to be grabbed to-go."

"How are you feeling?" Bow asked.

"I'm feeling a lot better, actually," Adora said. Somewhere along her eye-opening conversation with Queen Angella, her head had stopped pounding quite so badly. And the ever-present knot of anxiety in her chest had loosened slightly. She smiled wide at her friends. "The only thing that really hurts is my stomach, from the hunger pangs."

"Good," Glimmer said. "I was thinking you could eat some food and then take a nap! And if you're feeling better afterward, then we could talk about if you still want to enter the Reindeer Race, but there's really no pressure. It's just a silly competition, and Bow can always fly solo like he's done in other years. Actually, I think that might be best for everyone involved."

Adora tried to hide a smirk. Even while Glimmer was trying to step back, she still couldn't help being as bossy as ever. She grabbed Glimmer's hand and reeled the princess in for an impromptu hug. "Thank you for being so worried about me," she said. "I really appreciate it. But I think I want to give reindeer racing another go."

"Are you sure?" Bow and Glimmer chorused, looking doubtful.

"Yeah," Adora said firmly, and picked up a fork to tuck into her meal. "I didn't really have my head in the game this morning," she said around a full mouth of food. "It was early, and honestly I just didn't really see what the point of it all was. But Queen Angella explained a little bit more about the history of First Dawn and these different traditions, and I think I would like to participate."

"But perhaps with some additional safeguards?" Queen Angella interrupted, eyebrow raised.

"That would be great. I was thinking about it, and would it be possible for me to be fastened into the sleigh in some way? Not as tightly as Bow, of course, I would need enough slack to move around, but if there were at least some connection, I would feel a lot more confident moving around and countering attacks from other competitors without fear of falling out."

"That could be doable," Bow said thoughtfully. "There would need to be some kind of easy release mechanism, because if you have too much slack in the fastenings, you might get tangled up in a way that makes staying buckled in more dangerous instead of less."

Glimmer was nodding along excitedly. "Maybe something around your waist, since the most important thing is to keep your upper body mobile. And we can solder on some handles for you to grab when needed--and maybe a magnetic clamping system for your feet--"

"I'll leave you three to the details," Queen Angella said, and slipped quietly out.

"Bye Mom," Glimmer said absentmindedly. Beside her, Bow grabbed a piece of parchment from the table and began sketching rapidly. The sleigh began to take shape under his hands, and he drew slim handles on both sides of the sleigh, plus a clip-in waist harness that fastened to the back seat.

"Bow, could you also teach me the signals for the reindeer?" Adora asked. "If I know how they're going to move in advance, I can compensate and keep my balance."

"Yes! I'm so sorry, that was a complete oversight on my part." Bow glanced at her apologetically. "Sometimes it just feels like you've been with us forever, and I forget to explain these things to you."

He began to demonstrate the different whistles and explaining their meanings, while Glimmer grabbed the parchment and began making calculations. The short high yip meant go, whereas a short deep bark meant stop, and a longer deep call meant slow down. The fluting trill that Adora had heard before signalled the reindeer to take off and begin flying, whereas three short whistles told them to prepare for landing. A single high whistle meant swerve right, and a whistle that became deeper, like tripping down a scale, meant swerve left.

"But the reindeer are intelligent creatures in themselves," Glimmer added, "and sometimes they'll react to obstacles even without Bow signalling them. You'll need to maintain a clear field of vision so you can see what's coming up ahead."

"I'd love to," Adora said, "but the wind will keep whipping my hair into my face. She-Ra has so much freaking hair. I don't know what to do about it! Even putting it up in a ponytail wouldn't help that much, it's just too long."

"I can braid it for you," Bow said, "and pin it up so that it doesn't whip around in the wind."

"That sounds great, but what's a braid?" Adora asked.

"It's a different way to put your hair up," Glimmer said. "It'll keep your hair under better control than if you just put it up in a ponytail. Don't worry, Bow's amazing at braiding. You'll look badass."

Several hours later, after Glimmer had disappeared into a forge, dragging the sleigh behind her, and Bow had begun stringing together a leather harness, they were ready to begin again. The sleigh now had shining hooks through which the harness would be threaded as well as small handles, tipped with black rubber grips, on either side of the sleigh. Bow had forced Adora to change back and forth into She-Ra several times to obtain the right measurements, before crafting a harness made out of supple leather, fitted primarily around her waist but also twining around her upper thighs to redistribute the tension. It would be hooked onto the back part of the sleigh, but located right at Adora's waist was a rapid release mechanism to use in emergencies. Coolest of all, in Adora's opinion, were the magnetic clamps added to the floor of sleigh, requisitioned temporarily from Bright Moon's trash compactor.

"They're industrial strength, so they'll definitely stand up to She-Ra's added weight," Glimmer explained. Instead of She-Ra's regular footwear, Adora would wear custom boots that locked into the clamps. The magnetic clamps were anchored to the floor of the sleigh but still movable along a circular track, so Adora could twist and turn around as needed. "Remember," Glimmer said, "flip down the tab in the back of the clamps if you need them to power off for any reason. I'm sorry, I wanted to give you a release mechanism somewhere easier to reach, but there's just not enough time to make anything new."

"This is already more than enough," Adora assured her. "Honestly, this is incredible." She tested out the grips of the handles as Glimmer beamed.

"Now, are we going to take this thing out for a spin, or do you all need to take a minute to rest?" Adora asked teasingly.

Bow grinned and vaulted into the sleigh, fastening himself into the harness in a matter of seconds.

"Show-off," Adora sighed as Glimmer helped her hook into her new equipment.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Glimmer asked Adora quietly, eyes worried. "I don't want to push you into anything you're not sure about--"

"I'm positive, Glimmer," Adora said. She reached out and ruffled Glimmer's hair, and Glimmer swatted at her hand, anxiety immediately replaced with annoyance. "But thank you for worrying about me! I can do this."

She stood up straight and proud and shouted, "For the honor of Greyskull!" She felt her body shifting and her center of gravity rising, shoulders broadening and waist filling out the new leather harness perfectly. Her boots clamped into the magnetic anchors with an easy click and Adora shifted her weight slightly forward into a ready stance, resting one hand against a handle.

"Oh hold on," Bow said. "I almost forgot to do your hair!"

Adora pivoted smoothly along the magnetic track, and Bow began deftly separating and twisting her hair. It felt strange, but nice, to have someone else's hands carding through her hair so intimately. She attempted to crane her neck to see what, exactly, Bow was doing, but he elbowed her back with an admonishment, and Adora grumbled but turned her head back around. After a few minutes, Bow began pressing some pins into her hair against her scalp.

Finally, he said, "Done!" and Adora raised up her sword to look at her reflection. As always, the inhumanly beautiful face of She-Ra stared back at her, but instead of the endless waves of sunlight-golden hair, her head was instead crowned in intricate plaits. It was infinitely more functional, and somehow Adora felt more herself even though the body still felt foreign to her.

"I love it, Bow," Adora said, her voice low and sincere.

Bow laughed, embarrassed but pleased. "I have to do my sisters' hair all the time. It should stay in--I used a lot of pins!"

Glimmer whistled her approval, and the reindeer flinched at the sound, stamping their feet uneasily.

"Ready to go?" Bow asked.

"Ready," Adora answered.

He yipped to the reindeer, who took off without a breath of hesitation, as though they were bored by the humans' endless preparations and impatient to get to the real action. Adora lurched backward for a moment, but then her hand settled more securely into the grip of the handle, and she took a deep breath. The jostling of the sleigh was still uncomfortable, but she felt less anxious about staying in the sleigh, and with her hair braided up she could see clearly the path that the reindeer were taking. Glimmer and Bow had been right--now that her nerves were settled and she had an idea of what to expect, the bumpiness of the ride didn't feel half so bad.

"You can practice turning!" Adora yelled out over the wind.

In response, Bow gave a high whistle, and the reindeer turned smoothly to the right, before he gave a downward-sloping whistle, and the reindeer swerved back toward the left. At rest, they were lumbering creatures, almost ungainly in their large size, but now they moved with an odd grace. They were clearly highly attuned to each other's movements, as well as Bow's directions, and they moved without hesitation as one cohesive machine.

"Doing okay?" Bow shouted.

"Doing great!" Adora yelled back. "You can try and take things off the ground now!"

"Hang on!" Bow said, and whistled the up and down trill to signal the reindeer.

Like before, they quickened their speed and then began to fly up into the air. The sleigh tilted alarmingly, but Adora hung on to the handle and trusted in her magnetic clamps. She shifted her weight even more towards the front to help compensate, and before long, they were safely in the air. The sleigh had clearly been designed to handle in the air rather than on the ground; whereas on land its complete lack of undercarriage suspension made painful impact with every rock and bump, in the air it was light and aerodynamic. It followed the lead of the reindeer easily instead of lagging behind. The wind rushed past Adora's face, and turning her head up toward the clouds, she laughed with pure exhilaration. It was almost as good as flying with Swift Wind, though she would never tell her horsie that.

Hearing her, Bow turned back to beam at her. For one moment, they were in perfect sync, sharing in the same joy of flying and going dangerous speeds several hundred feet above the ground.

When they were back on the ground, Adora hit the release mechanisms of the harness and clamps and hopped over the side of the sleigh, still riding the high.

"I take everything back!" she said to Glimmer. She couldn't seem to make herself stop smiling. "Reindeer racing is _awesome_."

"I told you!" Glimmer cheered, and hugged Adora tight around her middle. "Now we can really start training you."

For the rest of the day, Glimmer coached Bow and Adora through round after round of exercises. They left deep tracks in the training field, criss-crossing and zig-zagging around imagined obstacles, while Glimmer catapulted fruit at them with a slingshot for Adora to fire at with her sword. While Adora learned to read every twitch of the reindeer and how to position her body to compensate for unexpected movements of the sleigh, Glimmer also drilled her on the different signals. By the end, Adora was repeating the whistles and commands to herself under her breath half-deliriously.

"Up and down means fly," Adora mumbled. "Three whistles means land. High whistle is right..."

Her hair, though tangled and matted with sweat, was still staying up in the crown that Bow had braided several hours earlier. The sun was sinking down below the mountains and Adora climbed out of the sleigh with a weary sigh, lying completely prone on the ground and stretching out her limbs.

Bow seemed much less tired than she was, though then again, he hadn't been the one waving around a sword and blasting fruit after fruit, Adora thought uncharitably. He jogged over to the reindeer and rubbed them down with a dry cloth, murmuring to them in quiet soothing tones.

"You're in great shape," Glimmer said encouragingly. "You were hardly missing any apples by the end of it! I've got a really good feeling about tomorrow's race."

"Thanks, Glimmer," Adora said to the rock sitting a few inches in front of her face.

"We should head in so you can get a good night's rest," Glimmer said, then paused. "Um, do you need any help getting up?"

In response, Adora raised her right hand, palm out and expectant. Glimmer sighed but grabbed it, levering Adora up.

Every muscle in her body was aching, but it was a good, clean ache. Maybe there was something to be said for these holiday traditions--Adora hadn't had a work-out this comprehensive since her days in the Horde, and at least here she wasn't always looking over her shoulder for a stray thrown blade. In the sky above, the moon rose white and luminous, radiating over the landscape and painting everything in a peaceful silver sheen.

Except for the palace, that is. The tinsel shone like a beacon against the moonlight. Adora briefly mourned the lack of curtains in her room. It was going to be a very brightly lit night.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this took so long! Turns out it's hard to write while sightseeing and juggling a ton of family members. Thanks for being patient with me, and I hope you enjoy! 
> 
> Please note that this chapter contains kissing of someone who isn't expecting it, so there isn't prior explicit consent. There is also some underage drinking in this chapter, in keeping with First Dawn festivities.  
> (though is it really underage drinking if they don't have the same laws?)  
> (what ages are these characters supposed to be anyway? I'm assuming at least 16-17, for my own sanity.)

The air in Frosta's domain was dry and crisp, like a thin sheet of ice cracking with the slightest pressure. Each inhale and exhale brought a cold wakefulness, and Adora was preoccupied with the white clouds she created every time she opened her mouth. It was another gorgeous day despite the subzero temperatures, the sky a blazing blue unmarred by any cloud cover and so bright it almost hurt to look at. The snow had been neatly plowed to make way for the racecourse, though the majority of it was hidden behind the starting line. From what Adora could see, there seemed to be some manmade obstacles to make things interesting.

Adora squinted against the glare of the sun against the white landscape, trying to make out more of the track. She should have gotten goggles like Frosta had sitting on her little head. But they had focused more on conserving body heat than anything else when putting her racing costume together. She was clad in a form-fitting, fur-lined overcoat the color of moonlight dancing over snow. Her trousers were made of a pale leather, so buttery soft and flexible that she could run for hours with them on.

The entire morning had been taken up by last-minute uniform fittings and alterations, forcing Adora to transform into She-Ra shortly after she had woken up to accommodate. Bow had jabbed what felt like several dozen pins into her head when braiding up her hair for extra security, and Adora could feel the skin of her face being pulled back slightly by the pressure of her tightly bound hair. The whole time, Glimmer had refused to let her even touch the sleigh, insisting that she stay "fresh" for the race, and only commanding her to run several laps around the field to "limber up."

They had traveled to Frosta's kingdom in the early afternoon to gather at the racecourse. Several tall waitstaff swanned around on silent feet, offering chilled delicacies. The princesses and their friends and family congregated in small circles, talking politely amongst themselves.

With the stilted small-talk and fancy appetizers, the whole affair felt like a surreal reenactment of Princess Prom instead of a sporting event. Adora half-expected to see Catra swan out from behind an ice statue, wearing another improbable tuxedo. Catra's outfit had almost been more shocking than her presence at the prom--Catra _hated_ dressing up, even back when they were younger and Shadow Weaver shoved them into frilly dresses for their serenades to Lord Hordak. Catra had fussed so much that Shadow Weaver gave up after a few years and let them stay in their cadet uniforms.

Never had Adora seen Catra in anything like a tuxedo. She had moved confidently in it, too, with the smug air of someone who knew how good she looked. She had been cocky and sharp-edged and playful, all the things Adora had once loved most about her. Catra had always been insufferable like that, but before, Adora had been in on the joke with her. Now, Adora was the butt of the joke, getting whirled around and dipped low like a ditzy princess, just so Catra could distract her long enough for her new best friend to blow up the ice palace. Adora gritted her teeth at the memory.

The dance had been humiliating, not least because Catra had done it only to carry out an evil plot. Holding Catra's hand after so long, being so close to her even with the specter of everything unsaid hovering between them, Adora hadn't been able to think straight. Her entire world had been consumed with stalking Catra and pinning her down to just--to just--to just make her understand how wrong she was. If Adora had only been able to focus, Bow and Glimmer would never have been captured, and Entrapta would still be alive.

Adora shook her head slightly, trying to banish the thoughts of self-loathing and regret. This was a holiday, they were here to have fun, and Catra was far away in the Fright Zone. She wouldn't be showing up to ruin First Dawn, or do...anything else. Adora looked around herself, taking in her surroundings.

To her left, Sea Hawk had commandeered an entire tray of appetizers for himself, gobbling down the fish tartare while Mermista stood next to him, refusing to make eye contact. Several yards away, Perfuma had eschewed the mainly seafood-based appetizers for vegetarian fare. She had a large carrot in each hand, biting from one herself while feeding the other to one of her reindeer. Every so often, she would accidentally take a bite out of the reindeer carrot and than make a slight grimace.

Frosta stood alone in a large bubble of personal space, leveling a glower at anyone who got too close or looked like they might even be thinking about starting a conversation. With the googles on top of her head, fuzzy blue mittens and tiny riding boots, Frosta looked like an adorable tiny dwarf. Though Adora knew better than to say anything like that within earshot of the princess.

"Isn't it kind of unfair, though?" Adora mused.

"What?" Bow asked in a whisper. He had barely said anything all day, downing cups of honeyed tea and preferring to mime rather than waste his "whistling voice" before the race.

"Frosta is the only one of us who knows the lay-out of the racecourse beforehand, right? That seems like a pretty huge advantage."

"Yeah, that's true," Glimmer said. "People would probably protest more if she had ever actually won one of these races. But as is, it seems like the advantage isn't doing Frosta much good."

"I wish we could just start already," Adora muttered. "The reindeer are getting antsy, and everyone's run out of small talk by now anyway."

"The race will start soon," Glimmer said, checking the horizon. "It always starts just as the sun begins to set. Which, because we're in Frosta's domain, should be any time now even though it's only mid-afternoon."

Bow began whistling lowly, running up and down scales fluidly. Glimmer rolled her eyes and said, "I'm going to go check on the reindeer while you do those 'vocal warm-ups.'" The air quotes were audible in Glimmer's voice.

Around them, the other competitors had begun to stretch and check their equipment. Mermista was hauling Sea Hawk away by the scruff of his neck as he popped one last shrimp into his mouth, and Perfuma looked like she was growing even more vines to secure the reindeer to her sleigh. Adora swallowed and began to do some half-hearted arm stretches herself, though as She-Ra she never quite got any muscle-stiffness.

An enormous towering guard appeared out of nowhere, holding some instrument that had several deadly-looking icicles scything down. At Frosta's nod, he drew a metal rod against the icicles, producing an incongruous sweetly chiming sound. "Competitors, to your places," he intoned.

Bow and Adora jogged over to the sleigh and quickly began strapping themselves in. The other competitors did the same, vaulting into their respective sleighs and murmuring amongst themselves. Adora stared down at her hands, which were suddenly clammy with nervous sweat. She breathed the cold air in deeply, letting the burn slip into her lungs.

"Hey," Bow said softly, and nudged her. "We've got this. Remember, first priority is to not fall out of the sleigh. Second priority is to win."

Adora was startled into laughing loud and bright, while Glimmer grumbled beside her but said nothing to contradict him. They filed up to the starting line, a wide ribbon of ice that cut across the snowy plain. On their left was Frosta's sleigh, and on their right was Perfuma's. She winked at Bow and blew a kiss, and Adora rolled her eyes.

Behind them, the guard struck the icicles again, and all the competitors straightened up. Glimmer teleported back to the sidelines. "On your marks," he called out. "Get set. GO!"

Bow yipped, and the reindeer took off eagerly, careening down the smooth snow. Grabbing the handles with her hands, Adora tilted her face against the wind and let herself enjoy the reprieve before the attacks would start. Bow had no such luxury, however--the obstacles began almost immediately.

Huge outcroppings of rocks forced the reindeer to swerve right and then left, and more sinisterly, large pits opened up on either side, forcing them to run along a narrow ledge with no margin for error. The wind screamed past as the reindeer ran, and Adora caught glimpses of the other competitors as they shouted out to their reindeer. Bow whistled out commands when necessary, but more often let the reindeer rely on their natural instincts to evade the obstacles.

Another huge pile of stone and ice forced Bow to navigate around a tight curve, but almost immediately after turning, a vast wall of ice loomed before them.

"Wall! Wall!" Adora screamed incoherently. It was not particularly tall, but it stretched out several yards in either direction, and at this speed, the reindeer wouldn't be able to turn in time to run alongside it.

Bow cursed, and Adora braced herself. It looked like the reindeer were going to try to run straight through it.

A split second later, though, Bow gave the whistle for flight, and then immediately afterward whistled a downward scale, asking the reindeer to land. Adora frowned at the opposing signals, given so closely together, but then the sleigh lurched as the reindeer burst briefly into flight, for one second, two, and then landed safely on the other side of the wall.

"I thought we weren't supposed to fly until the mountain part!" Adora yelled out.

"Desperate times!" Bow shouted back, voice shrill with excitement.

They were quickly approaching a forest. It looked strange and barren compared to the Whispering Woods, the branches bare of any leaves or fruit, instead twining gnarled limbs toward the sky. With the setting sun behind them, they burned with an orange glow and cast long, twisting shadows. The reindeer thundered into the woods, and at their entrance an enormous flock of ravens screeched and exploded out of the trees. They had been completely hidden in the hollows and shadows of the strange branches, and the beating of their wings sounded almost as loud to Adora as the crash of the reindeer hooves against the ground.

The birds flew low over their heads and then disappeared. They were advancing into the forest, dodging trees and shrubs, and Adora couldn't see the other teams any longer, obscured by the density of the forest growth, but she could hear them. The ground seemed to begin sloping upward, and Adora slowly realized that they were beginning their ascent up to the Precipice of No Return.

"Get ready," Bow called tersely. They finally broke free of the woods, and Bow guided the reindeer around a curving trail, the other side of which was a sheer drop. It dawned on Adora, with growing excitement, that they had somehow captured the lead position. But even as Adora thought this, she could hear hooves cantering behind her, and she chanced a look back to see Perfuma gaining steadily, a look of pure homicide on her face as her driver urged the reindeer onward.

Adora cringed and turned back around. She had to remember to avoid playing any board games with Perfuma in the future. Princesses were _scary_.

The trail dipped unexpectedly but then began to gain again, at an almost unimaginably steep angle. The reindeer were struggling, sides heaving, to maintain their momentum, and Adora knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that if it weren't for the new improvements in the sleigh, she would have slid out again. Bow urged the reindeer higher and higher until the trail simply...stopped.

Adora stared at the approaching cliff, bug-eyed. "Um, Bow--" she started.

But Bow was already whistling, the fluting up-and-down trill cutting clear across the wind. Arthur and Bertha, in the front, began to lift off, and then in the blink of an eye the entire sleigh was in the air. The air rushed past them, a freezing lash against the sweat on her face, as the reindeer climbed to a higher altitude.

Adora began to smile, feeling her heartbeat slow as the way ahead stretched out clear and obstacle-free before them. She could hear the soft whickers of the reindeer, Bow's unceasing muttering under his breath as he navigated the team, the howling of the wind. She could hear the whoops of Perfuma--oh, wait. She had almost forgotten about the second component of the race--the attacks.

In the corner of her eye, she saw a thorny vine whipping forward, and she lunged to slice it off before it could make contact with the sleigh. In the next breath, she pivoted in her magnetic boots and shot an answering blast of light back at Perfuma's team. The lead reindeer shied away from the blinding light, and Adora could see Perfuma's driver shout a command in response even as Perfuma's sleigh faltered and began to sway off-balance.

Adora grinned. This, she could work with. While Perfuma's team was still off-balance, she sent a few more beams, aiming to shear just barely past the reindeers' heads. But Perfuma immediately sent out vines around her own reindeer, with large fan-like leaves unfolding to act as blinkers. The reindeer seemed to have regained their equilibrium, and they kept advancing despite Adora's efforts.

In retaliation, Perfuma conjured up huge seed pods. She hefted them in her hands, then hurled them at devastating speed directly at Adora's head. Adora ducked on instinct, crouching down behind her seat, and leaned out just far enough to send another blast. She aimed for the bottom corner of Perfuma's sleigh and hit it without interference from Perfuma; the sleigh lurched from the impact and the reindeer were forced to slow to steady their swaying cargo.

Perfuma seemed to be distracted by something. Instead of returning Adora's fire, she was looking over her right shoulder. At once, Adora could hear a fast-paced volley of ammunition, almost loud enough to be gunfire. She straightened up and braced her sword, now a shield, against herself. A hail of dozens of spears of ice came arcing through the air. Perfuma screamed and flung out her arm, releasing a huge vine that swept away most of the bullets, but some found their mark nonetheless, and her sleigh, already unsteady, swung drunkenly.

Adora scanned the horizon behind her, and in the distance she could see Frosta's grey and blue sleigh, surprisingly far. The little princess could launch those icicles an alarming distance. Even as Adora thought this to herself, another projectile came rushing forward. This one was aimed unmistakably at Bright Moon's sleigh. As it approached, its outline became clearer and clearer. It looked like some kind of snowball, but ballooned to a monstrous size and glowing faintly red against the dusky sky.

Frowning in concentration, Adora hefted her sword and then, when it came slightly closer, blasted the snowball head-on. But instead of dispersing harmlessly, as Adora expected, it exploded on contact. Hundreds of tiny icy particles burst out, like seeds popping out of a seedpod. They moved in all directions, but there were so many that a good force continued to head toward Adora and Bow.

"Incoming!" Adora called out, alarmed, and attempted to shoot precision lasers to knock the ice particles off-course. But there were just too many.

When they hit the sleigh, they were too small in mass to do much more than shake the vehicle slightly. But a few had buried themselves in the reindeer, who snorted uneasily and lessened their pace, shaking their heads in attempts to dislodge the ice.

Bow yipped at the reindeer urgently, but they had already lost most of their momentum, and when Adora glanced over her shoulder, Frosta was almost directly behind them. Instead of spending more energy attacking them, Frosta's team simply quickened their pace while Frosta sat slumped back in the sleigh, looking tired but satisfied. As they passed Adora and Bow, Adora thought she could see Frosta's mouth shape the words, "It's finally my year!"

Shaking her head, Adora shot a blast at Frosta's retreating back, but the princess immediately put out her palm and shot out a sheet of smooth, crystalline ice. Adora's eyes widened in horror as the blast reflected off of the makeshift mirror and headed back towards them.

"Duck!" she screamed out, but Bow was already reacting, directing the reindeer to descend slightly. The blast passed harmlessly over their heads, although Adora imagined that she could faintly smell the scent of burned hair.

They had dropped back far enough that Perfuma's sleigh was now even with theirs, and Mermista's gold and teal sleigh was clearly visible only a few paces back. Perfuma barely spared them a glance as she wielded vines deftly, attempting to wrap around Frosta's sleigh. While she was distracted, Adora sent another few blasts at Perfuma. The first knocked the sleigh off-balance, and Perfuma whipped her head around, fuming. In the next moment, she conjured up large, many-petaled blossoms, and sent them off to float. The second and third blasts were absorbed harmlessly into the flowers. Indeed, the flowers that were hit pulsed slightly, glowing, and then abruptly seemed to enter a growth spurt. It was as if they were feeding off the sunlight energy in the sword's blasts.

At this point, Adora had been focusing nearly all her attention on Perfuma and Frosta. She had barely paid any mind to Mermista, who seemed to be safely behind them and unlikely to be able to access any water source mid-air, according to Glimmer. But as Perfuma prepared to instigate some other plant-based attack against Adora, they both paused to watch, open-mouthed, as a gout of water rushed over their heads to dump itself over Frosta's receding back.

Slowly, Adora swiveled her head back to stare. In her sleigh, Mermista was standing stock still, her eyes squeezed shut, fists clenched, as she seemed to be drawing water out from...the air itself. She was somehow forcing the water molecules in the air to condense and precipitate.

"Guess she learned some new tricks," Bow said, admiring in spite of himself.

The water that had doused Frosta looked well on its way to freezing. The temperature at this altitude was subzero already, and Frosta's base body temperature was lower than a normal human's, so she looked like she was encased in glass. Then Frosta suddenly snarled, audible even at Adora's distance, and shook herself violently like a dog, flakes of ice and snow breaking off of her.

But Perfuma had already taken advantage of Frosta's momentary pause to send large seed pods clattering over Frosta's unprotected sleigh and reindeer, spooking them and sending them veering far off to the right despite the best efforts of Frosta's driver.

The finish line was now in sight, an enormous landing ramp that led to a line of crushed ice and evergreen needles. Perfuma sailed into the lead easily, flipping her hair back in a practiced motion and flicking a cheeky rose back at Bow, who had deftly maneuvered the reindeers to be nipping at her heels. The way ahead of Perfuma was clear and unobstructed, Adora thought despairingly, and in a last ditch effort she flung out several beams of light, one after another.

Perfuma sent out several more blossoms to absorb the beams, but she had miscalculated the sheer volume of blasts Adora had fired. At least two or three beams slammed into her sleigh, knocking into it so forcefully that the sleigh almost turned over on its side. The sleigh's rocking, in turn, pulled at the harnessed reindeer, forcing them to slow substantially.

"Now, Bow!" Adora cried.

He turned back to grin at her fiercely and spurred the reindeer on, faster, faster, until they were mere paces away from the finish line. They were so close Adora could practically taste the victory, and she breathed in deep, savoring the moment. The air tasted cool but faintly smokey. Adora sniffed again, and the smell of smoke was even stronger now.

_What in Hordak's name--_

She turned to look behind her, and the first thing she saw was the panicked visage of Mermista's reindeer. Their eyes rolled wildly and their sides heaved with effort. They were clearly flying flat-out, no holds barred, for their lives.

But there was nowhere for them to flee. They were attached to the source of their destruction. Somehow, several hundred feet above the ground and with zero kindling, Seahawk had managed to set their entire sleigh on fire.

"I will KILL YOU--" Mermista was screaming, even as their reindeer sped past them. The speed of Bow's well-trained reindeer was no match for a panicked stampede fleeing a not-so-natural disaster. Just moments before the finish line, Mermista's sleigh inched past them for the victory.

Adora sat back hard in her seat as their sleigh thudded in a rough, second-place landing. In the distance, she could hear a howl of rage that sounded suspiciously like Glimmer. Adora was disappointed, but she had to give credit where it was due. It was like the Horde always said--you couldn't beat fire for a good motivating factor.

 

*    *    *

 

The landscape rushed past in a blur of greens and golds, and the air felt unseasonably warm after the previous day spent in Frosta's kingdom of ice. They were seated in a large, horse-drawn carriage much more spacious than the sleigh. The seats were plush and wide, and Adora slumped back gratefully, her aching muscles sinking into the cushions.

They were speeding their way toward a First Ones temple that had been repurposed for First Dawn caroling. Then later on, they would spend the night ringed around a giant bonfire, dancing naked and gorging themselves on sugar until dawn came. Or something like that. Adora had been half-asleep when Glimmer and Bow outlined the day's agenda.

Bow was attending with his family, so it was only Glimmer and Queen Angella riding with Adora. Glimmer was still slightly subdued from yesterday's loss; when Adora had peeked over her shoulder to see what Glimmer was scrawling in her journal, she had been disturbed to see a sketch of what looked like massive piles of dynamite attached to Bright Moon's sleigh, under the heading: FOR NEXT YEAR.

But now, Glimmer perked up and set her journal aside, sitting straighter up and poking Adora in the shoulder repeatedly. "Do you hear that? They've started singing already! We're going to be late!"

Adora cocked her head. Over the clatter of the horse's hooves, she could make out the faint strains of voices raised in harmony. As they approached the temple, the lilting lines of melody became clearer and clearer, and Adora suddenly sat up straight herself.

"Wait, I know this song!" she said excitedly.

"You do?" Glimmer looked dumbfounded. "But I thought you said you never celebrated First Dawn with the Horde."

"No no no, this isn't a First Dawn song," Adora said confidently. She smiled at Glimmer--finally, the roles of teacher and student were reversed. "It goes like this." Adora hummed a few bars, and then sang, "Oh Hordak, your majesty, so ruthless is your might; annihilate your enemies, and conquer all the night," Adora breathed in deep and continued, her voice swelling, "Lord Hordak, Lord Hordak, your skull so pale and bright, we worship at your bloodred cape, with you the Horde takes flight!"

Adora finished with a good dose of vibrato, just to show off, and then stopped, beaming at Queen Angella and Glimmer. They seemed to be awed into silence at her performance. "There's two other verses, if you want to hear."

"Oh, no. No, no. No." Something seemed to have gotten slightly stuck in Queen's Angella's language processing; she seemed unable to say anything else.

Glimmer didn't have any such problems. "Adora, that is definitely _not_ how the song goes."

Adora blinked. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know what--what twisted songs the Horde sings, but this is a song about First Dawn, and it way pre-dates the Fright Zone. The song talks about love, and rebirth, and surviving even the darkest times because the light will always return. There is no mention of Hordak's pasty white skull anywhere."

"That can't be right..." Adora muttered to herself. "We serenaded Lord Hordak with this song all the time."

"I promise. Just, please, take my word for it. You can look at the carol book when we get to the temple. But don't, um, please don't sing that anywhere else that other people might possibly be able to hear you. Ever."

"You do have a lovely voice, though," Queen Angella broke in.

"Thanks," said Adora, sighing. "I appreciate it."

When they arrived at the temple, the old structure was already milling with people. All four walls were lit through with stained glass, light transmuting through the colors and casting everyone in a warm, vibrant glow. It was unmistakably the work of the First Ones, but the rest of their technology looked like it had been cleared out a long time ago. No ominous security warnings or unhelpful holographic guides popped up. Instead, the building had been re-purposed as a kind of bright, airy cathedral, with room enough for almost all the residents of Bright Moon.

Bow stood in a corner with his fathers and three sisters. Each girl had their hair carefully braided in different designs, winding around their heads and curling around their shoulders. Bow had switched out his usual crop top for a more festive one in blue and silver, and he was talking excitedly to his family, waving his carol book around.

An elderly gentleman dressed head to toe in white was walking around busily handing out carol books, even though his back was stooped with age and his hands shook slightly.

"Who's that?" Adora whispered to Glimmer.

"That's the Grand Conductor," Glimmer said. "He's been our conductor for more than seventy years now. In another decade it'll be time for his apprentice to take over, though he's got big shoes to fill." She nodded her head at the small figure in the old man's shadow. The apprentice moved forward into the light slightly, revealing a head full of golden curls and a face full of anxiety. He had an armful of carol books as well, though everyone ignored him in favor of talking to the Grand Conductor. Adora frowned.

"Let's go grab carol books," Adora said, and walked forward. She made a beeline for the apprentice, who looked bewildered to be approached.

"Hi!" Adora said. "I'm new here. Can I have a carol book?"

The apprentice looked behind himself before responding. "O-of course," he said.

"My name's Adora," Adora said, taking the book he offered. "What's your name?"

"I'm Elaron," the boy said, and gave her a gap-toothed smile.

"Thanks for--" Adora started to say, but was interrupted by the old man leaning over Elaron to fix her with a piercing stare.

"And who do we have here?" the Grand Conductor asked.

Before Adora could respond, someone else spoke up.

"This is Adora, Conductor," Queen Angella said, resting her hand on Adora's shoulder.

"I haven't seen you before, and I remember every face I meet," the Grand Conductor said. "Is your family new to Bright Moon?"

"Well, I'm an orphan," Adora said. She was pretty sure she said it in a normal volume, but the entire room seemed to quiet down. Conversations drifted silent, and heads turned toward Adora, as though she turned on some giant magnet with those magic words.

"How sad. How very, very, very sad." The Grand Conductor hobbled closer and reached out a frail hand to brush against Adora's cheek. She fought the urge to flinch away. His fingers were gnarled with age and curved into speckled, claw-like shapes. "More casualties of the Horde, of couse. A true tragedy for someone so young and beautiful."

At his statement, families drew closer together. Even Bow stepped closer to his sisters and parents, like he was trying to ward off an unseen evil.

"She is staying with us at the castle," Queen Angella said. Adora noticed that she failed to address anything else in the Grand Conductor's comments.

"Of course. You are the very soul of charity, Your Majesty, and First Dawn is certainly the season for charity. Why, I myself took in Elaron six years ago when he was also tragically orphaned. And now, as my apprentice, he has a roof over his head and a prestigious future to which he can look forward."

Elaron stared at the floor, looking like he wanted to sink into it. Adora could recognize the expression, because she felt the same way. The Grand Conductor paused, as if waiting for one of them to say something. When they stayed silent, he moved away and continued passing out carol books. Adora exhaled, letting out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

"It's not like I'm really an orphan," she muttered to Glimmer after he moved far enough away that she calculated his wizened ears couldn't pick it up. "I had Catra, and Shadow Weaver, and the other cadets. We grew up together. It's not like I've been _alone_." She rolled her eyes.

But Glimmer didn't respond, only looking at Adora mutely. Her eyes were very soft, and it must be the last gasp of the Horde's training, but Adora wanted to lash out at the expression of undefinable tenderness on Glimmer's face. She didn't have the right to look at Adora like something to be pitied. Glimmer understood nothing of what Adora's childhood was like. No one in Etheria did.

Adora crossed her arms over her chest and didn't say anything else, trying to keep her temper from bubbling up and over. Around her, the conversations were re-starting, families--and Adora could see this now, how everyone was organized into neat family units that moved and talked as one entity--wishing each other glad tidings. They had stopped staring at Adora outright, only sending sidelong glances every once in a while as though they could not help it. Adora gritted her teeth. If Catra were here, she would already be eviscerating these people on both her metaphorical and physical claws. Adora knew better than anyone how sharp the wrong side of Catra's tongue was, and she could reduce everyone in this temple to tears in barely the time it took for her to toss back her mane of hair. She'd be able to rip their hypocrisy and stupid righteousness and lovey-dovey family unity to shreds. She'd always been better with words than Adora.

For one awful, selfish, mean-spirited moment, Adora wished more than anything that Catra _would_ spontaneously appear from around a corner or convenient potted plant, and throw the whole event into chaos.

She felt out-of-sorts for the entirety of the caroling, even as the singing began and everyone's voices joined together in pleasing harmony. Bright Moon, it appeared, did not produce any sub-par singers. Rich altos and smooth baritones and sweet tenors blended together seamlessly, as they sang songs imbued with love and generosity and any other positive emotion you could name. Family and togetherness were recurring themes in almost every carol. As the caroling progressed, the sun moved through the sky, lighting up the stained glass windows in a breathtaking rainbow dazzle.

Adora let the warmth of the colored light wash over her face, shutting her eyes and allowing herself to fall silent even as everyone around her burst into the swelling chorus.

 

*    *    *

 

"Adora? Adora, are you listening to me?" Glimmer waved her hand over Adora's face vigorously. "Etheria to Adora!"

"Oh! Sorry, I was just zoned out." Adora looked up from where she had been staring into the bonfire. The flames licked into the air at a height almost taller than She-Ra, dancing like a tiger against the night sky. Her face was warm, almost uncomfortably so, from the heat of the fire. Every so often, sparks flew out and landed on the ground, crackling. When she looked away from the fire, its afterimage was seared into her field of vision. For a moment, she thought she saw a feline tail in the afterimage of the fire, but when she blinked, it was gone.

"Are you okay? You've been quiet all day," Glimmer said, frowning. "Bow has been trying to hand you spiced orchid milk for the past five minutes. You should have some, I think you've barely eaten anything."

"I'm sorry," Adora said again guiltily. "Thanks."

She held the mug in her hands loosely and breathed in the steam wafting from the drink. It smelled good, sweet and rich, with a hint of spiciness.

"I didn't really get to talk to you at the caroling," Bow said. "Did you enjoy it?"

"Um, I did. Mostly." Adora fixed her eyes on her mug.

"You were really excited for the singing, but then you stopped joining in like halfway through," Glimmer pointed out, faintly accusatory.

Adora sighed. Glimmer and Bow were always so ready to talk about emotions, and she already felt drained. "It's hard to explain," she attempted.

Both Bow and Glimmer looked at her earnestly, with an expectant air. Adora sighed again and tried to sort out her thoughts.

"I think it's just hard to feel like I belong here, sometimes," she said after a few moments. "Especially when all of you are singing about family and unity. All of you have grown up in Etheria all your lives, and we just--we've had really different experiences, and so I think we sometimes have really different perspectives on stuff. It's not a bad thing, but I'm still in the process of trying to adjust."

They lapsed into another period of silence, Glimmer looking like she was furiously trying to rewrite her entire world outlook in her head so that she could better understand Adora. Adora felt her lips tugging reluctantly upward, and she leaned forward to drape a companionable arm around Glimmer's shoulders.

"It's fine," Adora said. "I don't mean to be a downer. You two have been really wonderful friends, and you've never been anything about welcoming. I mean, except for when we first met, but then you thought I was an invading enemy soldier, so we can probably look past that."

"No, I get it," Bow said, looking thoughtful. "I mean, of course I don't fully get it, but I'm trying. I know that all of this is pretty foreign to you, and even if we explain it to you and you understand it in your head, it'll take a while for you to understand it here." He rested a hand on the large red heart on his chest.

Adora's chest felt tight and warm--maybe from the smokey bonfire, but maybe also because she had some of the sweetest, most well-meaning friends in Etheria. In her darker moments, she had her doubts about whether defecting to the Rebellion was the right choice. But when she thought about all the reasons why she made that gut-wrenching, life-changing decision, Glimmer and Bow were always at the center, steadfast anchors in the middle of a turbulent sea. They may not have been the first ones to teach her about love, friendship, and family, but they were the first people to show her that it was okay to be vulnerable and honest about those emotions, and to trust that no matter what she said, they would never turn away in judgment.

At the same time, though, Adora couldn't stop herself from poking fun. "How many times has that heart on your crop top come in handy in an emotional and meaningful conversation?" she asked.

"Why do you think I always wear it?" Bow said, winking.

Glimmer shoved him, laughing. "You're such a dork, Bow. I'm amazed Adora even wants to be friends with us."

"I appreciate it, though, really," Adora said. "And thank you for forcing me to get out of my head a little bit."

"Anytime," Bow said.

"Now tell me," Adora said, "What other crazy traditions of First Dawn are we missing? Dawn is only a few hours away, but judging from the past few days, I know you've got some more surprises in store."

Glimmer shot straight up to her feet so quickly that Adora suspected she might have teleported her way up. "The mistletoe! I almost forgot about the mistletoe!" In another flash, she was gone.

Adora met Bow's eyes, but before she could even get the question out, Glimmer was back and holding something in her hands. It looked like a wriggling mass of lit-up greenery, moving of its own accord and emitting small squeaking noises.

"What," Adora said slowly, "is that?"

"Just an awesome First Dawn ritual that also doubles as an awesome bonding opportunity," Bow said. He and Glimmer had identical grins stretched out across their faces. Adora leaned as far back as possible without actually looking like she was trying to get away.

"This is mistletoe," Glimmer said. "It's an enchanted plant that's harvested by pixies."

Looking closer, Adora thought she could make out a round face in the middle of the writhing leafy mass. It stuck out a tiny green tongue at her before disappearing.

"The pixies fly the mistletoe around to different victims throughout the night," Glimmer explained.

"Not _victims_ ," Bow said. "Just deserving and lucky individuals!"

"Oh boy," said Adora.

"When the pixies hover with the mistletoe over the vic--um, lucky person, they get kisses from everyone around them! It's sweet and a lot of fun, unless someone has bad breath. In which case, it's still fun for the audience."

"K-kisses?!" Adora stammered. "But I've never--"

"You've never been kissed!" Glimmer breathed. "Oh, _Adora_!"

"Nope! No. Don't 'oh, Adora' me," Adora ordered.

"You're right," Glimmer said. "Sorry. I know we just talked about this. But that means this is way overdue!"

"Wait," Adora started to say, but Glimmer was already bending down over the pixies in her hand and murmuring something too soft to be overheard. In the next instant, she threw the pixies and mistletoe into the air.

For one suspended second, they tumbled through the air in free-fall. But then, with one loud squeak, the tangle suddenly righted itself and began buzzing in the air, flitting from one place to another. Adora watched them, warily. Confirming her worst suspicions, as soon as they seemed to have re-oriented themselves, they flew straight at Adora's face.

Adora shrieked and scrambled backwards, stumbling over a log and then darting behind a tree. It was no use, the pixies were still coming straight for her. They alit in her hair and chattered, pulling the strands lightly. Their squeaks sounded angrier, as though they were scolding her for attempting to escape.

"Our first mistletoe victim of the night!" Glimmer announced.

Adora let out a loud " _augh_!" as Glimmer and Bow appeared on either side of where she was leaning against the tree. There was nowhere to run. On her left, Glimmer leaned in and pressed a warm, friendly kiss against Adora's cheek. To her right, Bow smacked a kiss against her other cheek. They lingered for a moment, then withdrew. Adora's breath caught in her throat. Her cheeks felt like they were on fire.

"Your first kisses!" Glimmer said happily, and then immediately looked uncertain. "How did they feel?"

Adora could only imagine what color her cheeks were, and she hoped the lighting was too dim for them to make out the searing blush. "Less scary than I expected," she admitted.

"Less scary than expected!" Bow cheered, pumping his arm in the air. Helplessly, Adora broke down into hiccuping giggles.

"Low bar to clear, but I'm glad we did," Glimmer said with satisfaction.

"Why aren't the pixies going away now?" Adora asked.

"The pixies do what they want," Bow said. "If they're sticking around, it means they aren't done with you." He smiled with what looked like a diabolical gleam in his eye.

One by one, other party-goers sitting around the bonfire came over to offer Adora more kisses. Most kissed her hand or her cheek, looking merry and a little bit tipsy. Queen Angella bent down to press a soft kiss against her forehead. Even Elaron walked over, looking shy and blushing rosily. For him, Adora knelt down so he could brush a sticky kiss almost on her ear.

"Happy First Dawn, Adora," he whispered.

Impulsively, Adora leaned over and reciprocated, smacking a kiss--she thought she was doing it right--on the crown of his head.

"Yes, that's the spirit!" Glimmer called out. As if that was the signal for which the pixies were waiting, they finally deigned to remove themselves from Adora's head. They flitted over to Elaron, who was wide-eyed with amazement, like he couldn't believe his good fortune.

"They chose me!" he shouted, then clapped a hand over his mouth, looking surprised at himself.

Adora laughed at his clear joy as he, too, was kissed one by one by the bonfire attendees. The Grand Conductor supervised from several paces away, a sour pinch to his mouth.

There didn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to the pixies' chosen victims. Bow was picked, while Glimmer was passed over, and the pixies hovered over Queen Angella for several indecisive minutes, until the queen raised an eyebrow at them, and they flittered away hurriedly. They never even got close to the Conductor. Some of the attendees were kissed not only on the head or cheek, but also on the mouth, usually by a blushing individual who looked equal parts hopeful and terrified. Adora turned away for those kisses, feeling odd in her stomach and unable to stop her blush from flaring back up.

But all in all, it was a good night, Adora mused to herself as she leaned comfortably against Bow's shoulder. The world felt pleasantly fuzzy from her multiple glasses of spiced (and spiked) orchid's milk, and she was warmed all the way through. As she gazed into the Whispering Woods, a black shadow, slightly darker than rest, caught her eyes. It looked like it didn't belong, though it was trying to blend in with the trees. It stuck out a little bit, in the shape of something pointed and triangular. Adora giggled to herself. It looked almost like Catra's ear. But even as she thought this, and blinked sleepily, it disappeared when she opened her eyes again. That was definitely too much spiced orchid's milk for her.

In the same vein, her bladder was sending her signals that she needed to find a toilet, and quickly. She said as much to Bow, who waved her off with a wry smile.

"I'll probably need to do the same before long," he said. "They set up an outhouse somewhere that way--it shouldn't be far."

Adora smiled in thanks and climbed to her feet, stretching out her arms. Catching her by surprise, her jaw cracked open in an enormous yawn. She set off in the direction that Bow had pointed, one foot in front of the other, slightly clumsy in the dark night and her own altered mental state. Ahead of her, she thought she could make out the outline of the outhouse, and she quickened her steps.

Once in the outhouse, she relieved herself, sighing in relief, and then redid her pants. She scratched her stomach briefly, covered another yawn, and then pushed the outhouse door open. The Whispering Woods felt strangely quiet around her, its usual cacophony of insects chirping and leaves rustling snuffed out in the gloom of the longest night of the year. Adora walked further out into the woods, soaking in the absolute peace. She breathed in deep, and then released it slowly. Away from the cheer and merry-making of the others, forgotten anxieties were once again pressing in on her. The shadows reminded her, in a way, of the Fright Zone. She ached with a pain deep in her stomach to return to her old life just for a moment. To see old faces and friends, and explain everything to them, properly this time, with the benefit of hindsight and thoughtful preparation. If she had another chance, she could do it. She was sure of it.

In the middle of her thoughts, a loud crack sounded in the distance, and Adora jerked into full alertness. She took several steps forward and blinked into the darkness, trying to will her eyes to adjust. But after the first sound, the Whispering Woods subsided back into silence. Adora shook her head at herself--it was probably just the bonfire. After all, who would try anything on First Dawn?

In the next moment, Adora felt a painful impact, breath knocking out of her lungs, as she fell on her back against the ground. Even before she saw her attacker, she knew exactly who was on top of her. The scent of musky cinnamon, always stronger when Catra was stressed, filled Adora's nose. Against her better instincts, she shut her eyes and breathed it in for a moment before getting her legs under her and flipping them over so that Catra was beneath her.

In the dark night, Catra's mismatched eyes blazed like beacons. They were narrowed in anger, and Catra snarled as she wrestled with Adora for control. Even as they fought, Adora noticed that Catra was instinctively keeping her claws up and away from Adora's skin. Like they were sparring in the Fright Zone during a training exercise. It was telling--Catra was as much beholden to her natural impulses as Adora was, and they had been friends for far too long to ever use injury as an automatic response.

"What are you doing here?" Adora finally managed to grit out after Catra shoved a sharp elbow in her gut. "You're clearly alone and outnumbered, unless you've managed to get an army through the Whispering Woods, and we both know that's impossible as long as the Moon Stone is still lit."

"I don't need an army to take _you_ down," Catra hissed back, and then she finally did take a clawed swipe, straight at Adora's face.

Adora ducked and weaved, coming up behind Catra and throwing her over her shoulder in one smooth movement. Catra landed against the ground, hard, and though she came up a second later, shaking off the impact, the blow gave Adora enough breathing room to pull out the sword.

"For the honor of Grayskull!" Adora cried out. Like always, she felt the very atoms of her body rearranging and letting out a glorious spray of pure light. She didn't think she would ever get used to the sensation. It wasn't painful, exactly, but it was definitely uncomfortable and disorienting. Like she had bumped her funny bone against a sharp corner, except her entire body was the funny bone.

When her transformation was complete, Adora steadied her sword in a defensive stance. But instead of exploiting Adora's momentary vulnerability to attack, Catra was standing a safe distance away. She had her arms crossed and foot tapping, like she was...bored. Adora's cheeks heated involuntarily. The transformation wasn't that lengthy! And it was beautiful to watch--Bow had assured her that he had been dangerously distracted many a time in battle by the rainbow light show. Besides, Adora couldn't be held to account for weird quirks of First Ones technology.

" _What?_ " Adora asked when no attack seemed to be forthcoming, sword arm falling to her side.

Catra examined her claws leisurely before saying, "That took you long enough."

"What are you talking about--" Adora flinched and ducked automatically as Catra threw something directly at her head. But the thing expanded in mid-air, and though Adora knew with every fiber of her being that she had ducked far enough to avoid its trajectory--she hadn't been named youngest Force Captain in history for nothing--the projectile seemed to alter its course, compensating for Adora's dodge. In the next instant, Adora's arms were pinned painfully to her sides by large metal clamping arms that exploded out of the small object, seemingly in defiance of physics.

"Do you like my new toy?" Catra asked, walking over to where Adora was pinioned. She had a slow, swaying, undeniably feline smugness to her gait; it always came out when she knew her opponent was well and truly beaten.

Adora refused to give Catra the pleasure of responding. When she stayed silent, Catra only smirked and continued, "It tracks First Ones technology. With a little tweaking, Ent--our engineer was able to add a clamping mechanism that expands or contracts to fit the atoms of the First Ones technology it's been tracking. It's a perfect fit, no?"

"Oh yeah, very comfortable," Adora said, glowering.

"Good. Would hate for you to be uncomfortable while waiting for your new best friends to come get you. After all, who knows how long that'll take? Could be hours."

"Seriously?" Adora asked. "You're just going to trap me and then leave me here? For what purpose? Annoying me to death? Great strategy for taking down the Rebellion."

"You never know when to keep your mouth shut," Catra said, eyes narrowing. "You do realize that I have all the power here, right? You're literally trussed up like a pig for slaughter."

"Please, like you're any better," Adora couldn't help but shoot back, even though Catra was--unfortunately--correct.

"Do you really think I'm obsessed enough to go all the way through the Whispering Woods just to play a prank? Even if you do deserve it more than most." Catra rolled her eyes before continuing. "I'm here on an important mission. And you were stupid enough to play right into my hands."

Adora tensed, but before she could even formulate a plan for getting out of the damn trap, Catra struck. She raked her claws down Adora's right wrist in one burning swipe, and as Adora's hand loosened automatically in response, Catra snatched the sword, all in a single smooth movement. Adora attempted to grab for it, but her mobility was severely hampered by the metal clamp, and she could only gesture futilely as Catra danced a few steps back.

This just didn't make any sense. "You returned the sword to me only a short time ago," Adora reminded Catra. "What's changed?"

Catra leaned against the trunk of the neighboring tree and inspected the sword, the glow of her mismatched eyes reflecting off its surface. "We've broadened our understanding of the runestones after our experiments with the Black Garnet," she said. "Remember how much catastrophe we could inflict just by interfering with _one_ runestone's connection to Etheria's core? Let's just say we're thinking of starting our own collection."

"And this one is mobile and thus, the easiest to retrieve," Adora said slowly.

Catra smirked. "And comes with a few extra side-benefits, of course."

"Did you choose this timing deliberately, too?" Adora asked hotly. "Strike on the longest night of the year, twist the holiday of hope into one of despair? That's low, even for the Horde."

"What--Obviously the cover of night was helpful," Catra said, looking bewildered. "But what Rebellion crap are they telling you? What in Hordak's name is a holo-day?"

Adora blinked. "Well...I mean..."

Catra had stuck the sword under one arm and was now frowning in thought. "A holo-day...Is it some kind of holographic weapon?" Catra hooked her hands into She-Ra's armor and hauled her closer, until they were eye-to-eye and Adora was forced to crouch uncomfortably to accommodate her shorter height. "Tell me everything you know!" Catra ordered.

"No, no, it's not a weapon! It's just a day--a holi _day_ , get it? It's some day they spend doing random traditions. It's called First Dawn. Why do you think there weren't any patrols running through the Whispering Woods? They use it as a day of rest and celebration. "

"But...why?" Catra looked genuinely stymied.

"It's--um--it's hard to explain." Adora rolled her eyes skyward, wondering how the conversation got so off-track. But at the same time, maybe this was an opportunity. One last chance to explain to Catra what the Rebellion was really about. For once, the predominant emotion on Catra's face was curiosity instead of malice.

Adora started again. "I didn't understand it at first either. But these holidays, they're a chance to stop and catch your breath. Reflect on what you've been doing and why. First Dawn is especially important because it comes after the longest night of the year. It's about--it's about hope. It's about faith, and second chances, and the knowledge that no matter how absolute the darkness seems, the sun will rise again the next morning." Adora stared into Catra's eyes, willing her to understand.

"Sounds like typical Princess crap," Catra said flatly, and Adora almost choked on an unexpected laugh.

"Yeah. Yeah, kind of. There's singing, which you would really hate, and the songs are seriously awful; oh, and you wouldn't believe this, but they also race on these huge horned animals flying in the sky. It's ridiculous."

"What's the prize?" Catra asked, clearly dubious.

"That's just it! There is none! They do it, risking life and limb, for fun. Oh, and 'bragging rights.'" Without the use of her hands, Adora tried to convey the impression of air quotes with an exaggerated eyebrow raise.

"That sounds insane," Catra said. "You're making this up."

"I'm not! I swear to Hordak, I was strapped into a tiny sleigh, getting pulled along by four giant beasts, hundreds of feet up in the sky."

Catra paused, eyes big. Then she said, "Are you _sure_ you don't regret defecting?"

Adora bit her lip, but she couldn't stop a small, rueful grin from escaping. The moment felt tenuous, like a strap pulled almost to the breaking point, and she wanted desperately to keep it from snapping. "And the songs--" she started.

"What's this about singing?" Catra asked at the same time.

"We get together and sing carols about First Dawn," Adora said. "The songs are all about love, and rebirth, and family." She and Catra rolled their eyes at almost the exact same time.

"That doesn't sound as weird as the racing thing," Catra said. "Didn't we do the same thing for Hordak? Serenading him about his majesty and power and all that stupid crap."

"Yes! That's the first thing I thought of!" She grinned in earnest this time, unable to suppress a burst of nearly painful joy in her chest. "All those times we had to stand up in rows and sing until Lord Hordak finally got tired of how off-key some of us were."

"Yeah, and I never got a thank-you for my performance," Catra drawled.

"What are you talking about?"

"Just how bad do you think I am at singing?" Catra demanded. "Sure, I'm no Kyle--damn his angelic tenor--but I'm not completely tone-deaf. I played it up so we could all get out of there quicker. And I got zapped more than a dozen times for my trouble."

"Oh." Adora stared at Catra, feeling wrong-footed. "Well. Thank you," she said quietly.

Catra grimaced and broke their eye-contact, staring at a point on the ground. Her hands were still fisted in She-Ra's tunic, but loosely. Adora made no effort to pull away.

"You know, some of their carols," Adora said, striving for a light tone, "they're a lot like Lord Hordak's songs. You know the one? Oh Hordak, your majesty, so ruthless is your might."

"Annihilate your enemies, and conquer all the night," Catra continued automatically, her voice settling into a much more melodious alto than Adora remembered. Her voice was had a hint of the normal scratchiness of her speaking tone, but it was richer, smokier.

"Yeah. There's a First Dawn carol that uses the exact same tune. Etheria, your endless skies, await the dawn's embrace; the darkness holds but we still know the sun returns its grace."

"Wait..." Catra said.

" _Yes._ " Adora nodded emphatically. "I'm almost positive that Lord Hordak--or Shadow Weaver, or whoever he has writing these songs--is copying them from Etheria. That carol is hundreds of years old."

Catra's eyes gleamed in the darkness, and her shoulders shook with barely suppressed mirth. "That's rich. I can't wait to let this secret out--maybe we'll finally be able to stop those stupid performing monkey acts."

"I hope so," Adora said.

There was a long, weighty pause. Catra's eyes held an odd, undefinable expression, and Adora had the strangest sense that as long as she held her gaze, things would be all right. They would be held in stasis, living this moment forever, in perfect sync.

"I've missed you, you know," Adora said, but even as she said the words, she knew it was a mistake.

Catra hissed, grip tightening again. "And whose fault is that? I'm not the one who ran away."

"I didn't mean to abandon you," Adora said, but she could feel deep in her bones that it was a losing battle. Everything she said would be the wrong words to say, regardless of whatever came out of her mouth. Still, she had to try. "You've been--you've been my most important person, Catra, all my life. Ever since I was fostered in the Fright Zone. It's been you, the whole time. And I'm _sorry_ for leaving you, but I can't be sorry for leaving the Horde."

Catra sneered at her. "Friendships are cheap when it comes to someone like you. How long did it take you to replace me? A grand total of five minutes after we crash-landed in the Whispering Woods?"

"Glimmer and Bow are my friends, but it's not a zero-sum game. I know that--that we've been competing all our lives, whether we wanted to or not. Shadow Weaver always set cadets up against each other. It was always win or lose, no in-between. But friendship isn't a competition. Just because I have other friends now doesn't mean that you're not still important to me."

"Now you're even talking like them," Catra said. Her upper lip was curled in disgust, and she leaned in close to Adora, so close she could feel her breath against her lips. "But you're the biggest hypocrite of all. If I was so important to you, you never would have left."

"My leaving wasn't about you! How many times do I have to say it before you understand? The Horde is out there, killing innocent people, and I _needed_ to stop the injustice." Adora could feel herself losing her calm, hear her voice getting shrill, but she couldn't help it. Catra always knew exactly what to say to push her buttons, and she swore Catra had selective hearing. No matter how many times she repeated herself, Catra just dug stubbornly in and refused to move.

"You used to say all we _needed_ was each other," Catra said hoarsely. At the words, Adora stopped struggling against her restraints for a second. She was thrown abruptly back to their bedtime conferences, so many years ago, two heads tucked together under blankets, Adora combing out Catra's tail, Catra tracing patterns into Adora's palms with her baby-soft claws. Staying up late into the night, whispering confidences. Making promises.

"I--" Adora said, without any idea of how she was going to continue. But before she could say anything else, a familiar buzzing became audible. A green, glowing mass hovered into sight just over Catra's shoulder, before flitting up and settling back onto Adora's head.

"What the--call them off!" Catra said, flinching away. She snarled at the pixies, snapping her teeth. "If you don't beat it, I'll hurt your precious She-Ra!"

"Catra, they're just pixies! They can't hurt anyone!" Adora sighed in exasperation. Of all the terrible timing. "Go away!" she whispered, trying to shake them loose. "You already landed on me, remember?"

"Then what are they doing here? Trying to stage a rescue attempt?" Catra said suspiciously.

"I wish. They're another First Dawn tradition. They carry a plant called mistletoe."

"And do what, exactly?"

"It's not--it's stupid." Adora willed herself not to blush, but she could feel her cheeks heating up. With Catra's night vision, she'd be able to see the blush from a league away.

Sure enough, Catra's curiosity was clearly piqued. "Tell me more or I'll squish 'em."

"Don't! They're not bugs! I think they're, I don't know, little fairy things. They come out during First Dawn and crown certain people with mistletoe. And then...theygetkissesfromeveryone," Adora finished in a panicked mumble.

Unfortunately, Catra's giant ears weren't just for show, and they swiveled minutely, picking up her last words. "You go around _kissing_ everyone else?" she screeched. "I thought the Rebellion was supposed to have that morality crap. This sounds nastier than anything we ever got up to in the Fright Zone."

"It's not like that!" Adora was positive that her cheeks were bright, fire-red at this point. They were so hot she thought she might start glowing. "The pixies just land on someone, and then the others will kiss them. On their cheek, or their hand! It's very, um, very...appropriate."

Catra's eyes, always too sharp, narrowed. "And the pixies have already landed on you once before, you said."

Adora shrugged as much as the metal trap would allow her. "B-briefly."

"So you've been kissed by Glimmer and Bow and all your other rebel buddies," Catra said, scowling.

Adora inhaled deeply and held her breath, refusing to respond.

"If the pixies have already landed on you, why are they here again?" Catra was moving closer, for some reason.

"Who knows what goes on in their tiny brains?" Adora muttered, eyes fixed on the ground. They chattered angrily in her ear, and Adora thought she could even feel a small sting on her head.

"Your friends kissed you on your cheek, or your hand?" Catra continued.

Adora nodded mutely.

"But not on your lips?"

Adora shook her head. Her heart was pounding in her chest, for some reason, like she was running a sprint, even though she had just been standing around for the past half-hour.

"Maybe that's why," Catra crooned softly.

"What?" Caught, Adora darted a glance back up at Catra, only to suppress a flinch when she saw Catra only inches away from her face, feet raised up on tiptoes to reach her.

"Maybe that's why they landed on you again," Catra repeated. "Because you haven't been properly kissed."

Adora's mouth parted, but she couldn't find anything to say. Her brain felt like it was on the fritz, nothing but white static between her ears. Her heart was racing even faster, and she felt like she was on the brink of something she had no words for.

Catra leaned in closer, at an agonizingly slow pace, as though giving Adora time to flinch away. She felt suspended in amber, unable to move a single muscle, only stare at Catra as she came closer and closer. Her eyes were almost crossed when Catra's lips touched hers. They were warm, slightly chapped. They felt entirely ordinary, and like no reason at all for Adora's body to feel like it was thrumming with electricity, for her stomach to be flipping in acrobatic stunts of anxiety and suspense and strange, bittersweet jubilation.

Adora kissed back urgently, clumsily. Her head was spinning, and all she could think about was the miracle of Catra against her, kissing her like she never wanted to do anything more in her life. She barely even registered when her body flickered back down to her normal shape, atoms stuttering and then reforming, her voluminous curls disappearing, her center of gravity returning to baseline.

But Catra did.

She broke the kiss, easing down from her toes as they were now more or less the same height. Catra stared at her, eyes moving over her face--her _real_ face--without saying anything. Adora swallowed, trying to release the knife's edge tension of the moment. Catra's gaze hardened, and heart sinking, Adora braced herself for an attack.

But instead, Catra only kissed her again. Harder, this time, like she was trying to prove a point. Adora kissed back helplessly, gasping at the soft flick of Catra's tongue against her lips, and then the hot searing ache as Catra deliberately raked her fang against her mouth as she pulled away.

Adora panted, dimly noticing that Catra was doing the same. She could breathe freely now with the metal clamp no longer squeezing her body so securely. It hadn't shrunk when she transformed from She-Ra back into Adora, still gaping open to accommodate She-Ra's wider girth.

Adora blinked. _It hadn't shrunk._

On instinct, she boosted herself out of the trap and lunged forward, reaching for the sword. Catra had been casually pointing the sword toward the ground, but now she swung it up and out in a belated defensive maneuver, eyes widening in alarm. She moved a second too late--Adora barreled into her and knocked both of them down to the ground, hard. She swung her legs over to straddle Catra, pinning her lower half to the ground, and grabbed Catra's wrists tightly.

"I'm going to get you," Catra was spitting as she struggled against Adora's hold.

"I think you already did," Adora said. Before she could think too much about it, she leaned forward and kissed Catra, lightly, on the tip of her twitching nose. Catra stilled, eyes going soft and stunned, and her hand loosened on the sword in surprise. Adora pressed her advantage.

She grabbed the sword, jumped onto her feet, and lowered into a defensive crouch, all while fixing the sword back onto her back where it belonged. Tensing, Adora readied for Catra to rush at her.

Catra was on her feet as well now, but she looked like she was having some kind of internal struggle. She bit her lip, and her hands opened and closed into fists. Finally, she cursed and pivoted on her foot in the direction of the Whispering Woods. Before Adora could take even a step in her direction, Catra was already disappearing into the darkness.

"Catra!" Adora shouted. "CATRA! Don't _run away_ from me!"

She was met with only silence. "Was that your first kiss, too?" Adora called out more quietly, pointlessly.

A bird chirped in the distance. Sighing, Adora sat down on the ground hard.

"Adora? Is that you? Are you talking to someone?" Glimmer's voice came out of the shadows, followed soon after by her scurrying footsteps. "You've been gone for so long! Bow was worried you got lost, but he was in no condition to come find you himself, if you know what I mean."

"Glimmer!" Adora said. "Oh, no. I was just, um, looking at the stars. Got distracted. I think I may have had a little too much to drink, too."

Glimmer studied her curiously, but her face was open and innocent, not suspicious at all. "Did something happen to your mouth? I think it's bleeding."

Adora's hand flew to her bottom lip. It was slightly sticky with blood from where Catra's fang grazed it. "I think I might have bumped it. I can't see too well in the dark." Adora laughed uncomfortably.

Glimmer joined in with a merry peal of laughter. "Both you and Bow are such lightweights! Come on, let's get back to the castle. The bonfire's winding down, and dawn's almost here!"

They made their way back to the castle, Glimmer making herself a convenient crutch for Adora to lean against as she tried to calm her racing heart.

"I know this is all really new to you, and all the First Dawn festivities probably seem weird, but did you at least have fun?" Glimmer asked hopefully.

Adora touched her mouth again, almost unconsciously. Her lips still felt like they were buzzing. She smiled without meaning to, an unexpected joy warming her from the inside. "Yeah. It was new, but...I learned a lot."

Against the horizon, the sun was peeking out. Dawn blazed a path into the darkness. The castle shone in oranges and reds and golds, radiating outward, waiting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All feedback is loved and very much appreciated! Thank you for reading, and happy new year! I hope all of you have something to look forward to in 2019, and that this story provided some smiles to start you off right <3
> 
> P.S. If anyone's wondering, the melody to which Hordak's song is meant to be sung (at least in my own head) is from America the Beautiful. Yeah, I don't know either.


End file.
